Film Festival Review | 'Friday Night'

For Strangers in the Night, Gridlock Is an Opportunity

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

Published: October 11, 2002

What could be more romantic than the zipless encounter of two attractive strangers who, after exchanging only a few words, end up sharing a blissful night of passion (interrupted by a scrumptious Italian dinner) in a cozy hotel room before going their separate ways? That scenario is the essence of Claire Denis's surreal erotic fantasy "Friday Night," which the New York Film Festival is showing tonight and tomorrow.

But don't hold your breath. As much as the story, based on a novel by Emmanuèle Bernheim, has the irresistible earmarks of the kind of high-toned bodice-ripper at which the French excel, its cinematic realization is oddly gawky and tepid. As its lovers undress and prepare to make love, we wait to be caught up in the collective swoon of a great make-out movie. That moment never arrives. Although a mild warmth creeps across the screen (a bedside heater indicates the rising erotic temperature), the lovers, Laure (Valérie Lemercier) and Jean (Vincent Lindon), lack the charisma and erotic chemistry to set the screen ablaze.

The problem is not that Laure and Jean are middle-aged; I can think of numerous actors who are sexy despite being years away from hard-bodied perfection. But as Ms. Lemercier (a popular French comedian) and Mr. Lindon (whose mature gravity has a vague resemblance to Jean Gabin) go through their poker-faced, tight-lipped paces, you may find yourself frustratedly substituting other pairs of actors in your mind for these two. If Jeanne Moreau and Marcello Mastroianni of the late 1960's played the same roles, for instance, the corners of the screen would be curling up in flame.

To their credit, Ms. Denis and her cinematographer, Agnès Godard, scrupulously steer away from any suggestion of soft-core cliché. As in their last film, "Trouble Every Day," which played skittishly with the theme of sex as cannibalism, they approach the human body as rugged unexplored terrain. Throughout "Friday Night," especially in its lingering sex scenes, the camera zeroes in for extreme close-ups. Not only faces, but other body parts, especially feet, hands and backs, are examined by the camera from unusual angles. Often it seems as if the filmmakers, determined not to fetishize the usual anatomy — the woman's breasts and legs, the man's chest — are embarking on an expedition seeking new ways of looking at the body, without much idea of what they're after.

The prelude to their tryst is a Friday night traffic jam during a transit strike that has brought Paris to a standstill. It is the night before Laure, who in the opening scene is shown packing her belongings, is to give up her apartment and move in with a lover we never meet. The radio is filled with the news of the traffic jam, and the camera scans the grimly resigned faces of other drivers who, like Laure, are trapped on the road. Jean appears on foot, asking for a ride.

Laure lets him in, and as they sit by side by side (he smokes, she's just given up cigarettes), an immediate spark is struck. Laure briefly abandons the car to call a friend who is expecting her for dinner (but the party's been called off) and returns to find her car has disappeared. She takes to the sidewalk, but just as she has given up finding the vehicle (it's old and for sale anyway), Jean catches up with her. This time he takes the wheel.

Suddenly they are on a deserted street. A courtly kiss turns into a passionate one, and they find themselves drawn to a small hotel. Once they have removed their clothes, there is a lot of hugging and caressing. Although they complete the sex act, they do it with few signs of animal passion.

Ms. Denis has been called the most sensual of filmmakers because of her film before last, "Beau Travail," a gorgeous, almost balletic portrait of young French Legionaires in Africa loosely based on "Billy Budd." But "Friday Night" isn't especially sensual, nor was "Trouble Every Day." Perhaps it would be more accurate to describe her aesthetic as one of detached investigation.

FRIDAY NIGHT

Directed by Claire Denis; written (in French, with English subtitles) by Ms. Denis and Emmanuèlle Berheim; director of photography, Agnès Godard; edited by Nelly Quettier; music by Dickon Hinchliffe; production designer, Katia Wyszkop; produced by Bruno Pesery; released by Wellspring. Running time: 86 minutes. This film is not rated. Shown with a 15-minute short, Alexis Mital Toledo's "Tango de Olvido" tonight at 6 and tomorrow at 9 p.m. at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center as part of the 40th New York Film Festival.